688 Letters on the West India Question. [DEC. 



BATE AND PRUDENT SPIRIT OP THE RESOLUTIONS OF MAY 1823, AND THE RECOM- 

 MENDATIONS OF HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT FOUNDED ON THOSE RESOLUTIONS." 



But in 1830 they call upon their followers " to favor the pretensions 

 of such candidates only, at the ensuing election, as will engage to exert 

 themselves in carrying INTO IMMEDIATE EFFECT the wisest and most 

 practical measures for the speedy extinction of slavery, fyc" 



Mr. Horton concisely explains the difference between the conquered 

 colonies, and the old possessions of the crown : the latter are governed 

 by local legislatures the former regulated by orders of the King in 

 Council. In the case of the former, containing 300,000 slaves, it is 

 clearly shewn not to be the fault of the planters, if the " temperate and 

 prudent" recommendations of the government have not been carried into 

 full effect, te and will you, in that case/' he inquires " be prepared to call 

 for the sudden extinction of slavery in those colonies, WITHOUT EQUIT- 

 ABLE COMPENSATION ?" If compensation is to be granted, " what is 

 your project, and where are your funds ?" 



But it may be said, " we will not emancipate the slaves in the ceded 

 Colonies, but we will at once emancipate those in the Colonies having 

 local legislatures." If justice to the slave be the object, how are any 

 principles of justice to be reconciled with the distinction ? 



On the general question, Mr. Horton argues that 



" If a state of Slavery be pronounced to be so repugnant to Christianity, that 

 delay in putting an end to it is a breach of religious duty, that argument 

 appears to have been precisely as forcible, at the time of the Abolition of the 

 Slave Trade, or at the time of the Resolutions of 1823, as it is at the present 

 moment. In 1807, however, the general condition of the Slaves was such as 

 to make the problem of immediate emancipation still more awful than it is at 

 present; and it may be argued, that they have since attained a degree of civi- 

 lization, which renders it more safe for them to receive their freedom than it 

 was at the former period. But, if that be true, it can only have arisen from 

 improved treatment ; and precisely in proportion to the degree in which the imme- 

 diate extinction of Slavery is contended to be safe and practicable, the more does 

 satisfactory equitable compensation become due to the West Indian proprietors." 



In the accuracy and justice of this view of the subject every rea- 

 sonable man must concur ; and it clearly follows, either, that the slaves 

 are still unfit for emancipation ; or, if they are fit, that the planters are 

 the more fully entitled to equitable compensation for the loss of their 

 services. Mr. Horton proves the accuracy of this position, by reference 

 to the opinions of M. Wilberforce, and others. Earl Grey, who has, 

 at this moment of difficulty, been called to the helm of affairs, expressed 

 his opinion that slavery should be allowed to " gradually wear out, 

 without the immediate intervention of any positive law, in like manner 

 as took place in the states of Greece and Rome, and some parts of 

 modern Europe/' 



" The Abolition of Slavery," said his lordship, " must be gradually 

 and not suddenly effected, and this both on the principles of justice to 

 the Planters, and also to the Slaves themselves. For, in the present 

 reduced circumstances of the Slaves, to propose their immediate emanci- 

 pation, would be to produce horrors similar to those which have already 

 happened at St. Domingo." 



Other eminent statesmen concurred in the same opinion ; Mr. Fox's 

 language was still more decisive 



